A handful of top U.S. universities are urging international students who travel home for winter break to be back in the country before President-elect Trump takes office.

The big picture: Trump has vowed to crack down on both illegal and legal immigration, and school leaders are worried one of his first actions could be an executive order limiting entrance to the U.S. like he did with the Muslim Ban in 2017.

Driving the news: At least 10 universities, mostly on the East Coast, have told international students to be back stateside before the Jan. 20 inauguration. They include the University of Southern California, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, MIT and others.

• USC in an email to students on special visas said they are expected to be in class when the semester starts on Jan. 13, and that this "is especially important given that a new presidential administration will take office on January 20, 2025, and — as is common — may issue one or more Executive Orders impacting travel to the U.S. and visa processing." The school shared the email with Axios.
• "While there's no certainty such orders will be issued, the safest way to avoid any challenges is to be physically present in the U.S. before the Spring semester" begins, the email stated.

Zoom in: Sercan Canbolat, director of Abrahamic Programs and adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut, came to the U.S. from Turkey in 2014 to get his doctorate degree and says that, out of precaution, he didn't travel outside the country during the first Trump term.

• He also says he won't when Trump returns to office in January because he "will take no risk" of not being able to get back in the U.S.
• Canbolat, who has a student visa, says he last visited Turkey in 2021 and wishes he could go back so his family can meet his wife and 6-month-old daughter.
• "It's not easy at all for me, for my family in Turkey. They want to meet her, they want to hold her."

Catch up quick: There are roughly 1.1 million students from other countries studying in the U.S., according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a global nonprofit that advocates for international study.

• Those students contribute $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy. They also often pay about triple the amount of tuition that state residents pay.

Reality check: Most universities are not issuing guidance.

• Emory University spokesperson Sylvia Carson said in an email to Axios that the school can't "speculate on anything related to the new administration at this time. Once real policies and mandates have been put into place we can discuss impacts, but it's premature at this stage."
• University of Colorado Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch also said the school can't speculate but that it'll "continue to support" international students "regardless of who's in office."
• Arizona State University, which has the fourth-largest number of international students, is also not issuing guidance, per spokesperson Jerry Gonzalez.

What they're saying: Jill Allen Murray, deputy executive director of public policy at NAFSA, says it makes sense these schools "would try to avoid the risk of even one student experiencing a disruption to their study."

• But "I don't think we're hearing a lot from our members about this particular issue of needing to have students here before inauguration," Murray adds.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Sercan Canbolat's last name.

GOP leaders are doubling down on their commitment to help President-elect Trump with a key — and controversial — component of his mass deportations plan: cooperation from local and state authorities.

Why it matters: The federal government doesn't have enough resources to carry out mass deportations — the country has an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants — without local police being involved.

Context: Some local governments have long collaborated with federal immigration authorities, usually via "detainers" — requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for local police to hold for an extended period immigrants who have been arrested on criminal charges.

• ICE uses the detainers to give itself more time to determine whether the immigrants are deportable and, if so, to detain them while they're still in local custody.
• But critics say those collaborations create distrust between local police and immigrants who, because of the relationship with ICE, may be scared to cooperate with an investigation or report a crime to their local authorities.

State of play: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) last week announced a "targeted effort" to aid Trump's deportation plans, Axios Salt Lake City reporter Kim Bojórquez writes.

• Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, which has the third-highest number of undocumented immigrants, said in post on X last week that "states and localities should be required" to assist with deportations "as a condition of receiving federal funding."
• Texas, which has the second-highest number of undocumented immigrants, has offered Trump the use of a 1,400-acre ranch near the southern border for deportations. It also passed a law last year that would allow local police to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally.
• That law, which the U.S. says is unconstitutional because only the federal government can enforce immigration laws, is on hold while a lawsuit against it plays out in court.

The other side: Some Democratic governors and mayors say they won't be cooperating with the feds on mass deportations.

• Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has pledged to protect undocumented immigrants from possible mass deportations under the incoming administration.
• In an interview this month, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu reiterated the city's decade-old policy of refusing to help deport undocumented immigrants unless criminal warrants have been issued.

Zoom in: Perhaps the biggest rebellion comes from California, where the largest number of undocumented immigrants lives (1.8 million).

• Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) earlier this month called a special legislative to session resist the incoming Trump administration, including on immigration.
• The Los Angeles City Council last week unanimously approved a "sanctuary city" ordinance that bars city resources or personnel from being used to help federal immigration enforcement.

Reality check: Mass deportations will be tough to pull off logistically, even with the aid of some states or cities. Immigrants are also afforded due process by the nation's immigration courts, which has a backlog of 3.7 million cases.

• The government will need to house detained immigrants before they are deported, and there aren't currently enough facilities to do that.
• The feds already have some partnerships with local jails and state prisons to house immigrants who are in non-criminal detention, and the Trump administration could expand that use.

What to watch: Some cities with significant immigrant populations are waiting to take a stand.

• Columbus, Ohio, recently created a commission to report on issues that concern immigrants, but does not consider itself a sanctuary city and will not answer questions about deportations until the commission is seated, per city spokesperson Nya Hairston.
• Mayor Andrew Ginther said at a press conference earlier this month that he didn't run to be "anti-Trump."
• Ginther, who also serves as the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said mayors are "not interested in a war with the Trump administration."